CANNES REVIEW: “Stardom,” Denys Arcand’s Dread TV

CANNES REVIEW: "Stardom," Denys Arcand's Dread TV

(indieWIRE/5.22.2000) — The shallowness of celebrity. The way powerfulpoliticians get weak at the knees at the sight of abeautiful, very young girl, and our attraction totelevision. We’ve heard this all before, from PrincessDi to President Bill, and they are the main issuesbrought to the table by the first-ever Canadian filmto close the Cannes Film Festival, Denys Arcand‘s“Stardom.” Following the rise and fall ofCanadian-born model Tina Menzhal (newcomer JessicaPare, whose own rise from nobody to major motionpicture star sounds eerily familiar), “Stardom” isultimately a slight film from a talented filmmaker.But what is more apt to close the Cannes festival,where intellectualizing about the latest Taiwanesemasterwork takes place a breath away from promotionalcampaigns for the next episode in the Toxic Avengerseries? And I won’t even get into the excessivebillboard presence of Jean ClaudeVan Damme.

I bring up Mr. Van Damme because he’s the type ofcelebrity whose life “Stardom” distills into a neat,exceedingly superficial package of promotional clips.An Entertainment Tonight segment about the productionon his latest film. An appearance at a club opening.Oh, and a little scandal involving abuse. All of this,however, is eagerly spinned a certain way by themedia, who have invested far too much in the existenceof someone like a Van Damme; to strike him down wouldmean calling the whole system into question. (And I’mnot just talking about television).

“Stardom”‘s somewhat silly subject matter would makeit a dubious closer if not for the conceit (orgimmick, depending on your point of view) of thechannel-surfing-like structure: Outside of the firstand last scenes, we see Tina’s maturation from hockeystar to fashion queen only through the camera eye,from appearances on Jerry Springer-like TV trash talkshows to Fashion TV segments. Skipping from clip toclip like a bored viewer who is impelled to search outthe newest dirt, Arcand compacts a whirlwind ofactivity into brief moments. We see Tina change as shebecomes a television presence and a known commodity